diff --git a/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.9.md b/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.9.md
index a6ffc6ddd..a649b213b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.9.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.9.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ When cutting a new release, update the `unreleased` heading to the tag being gen
 
 ## unreleased
 
+* [CHANGE] Upgrade to cass-operator v1.17.2 to fix issues with Medusa modifying initContainers when used with Cassandra 4.1
+
 ## v1.9.0 - 2023-09-20
 
 * [CHANGE] [#1037](https://github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/issues/1037) Upgrade Medusa to v0.16.1
diff --git a/config/cass-operator/cluster-scoped/kustomization.yaml b/config/cass-operator/cluster-scoped/kustomization.yaml
index dcd26ff13..a10a3347d 100644
--- a/config/cass-operator/cluster-scoped/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/cass-operator/cluster-scoped/kustomization.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
 
 resources:
-- github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator/config/deployments/cluster?ref=v1.17.1
+- github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator/config/deployments/cluster?ref=v1.17.2
 
 components:
   - ../../components/cass-operator-image-config
diff --git a/config/cass-operator/ns-scoped/kustomization.yaml b/config/cass-operator/ns-scoped/kustomization.yaml
index 4ea2a7d0a..517219b62 100644
--- a/config/cass-operator/ns-scoped/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/cass-operator/ns-scoped/kustomization.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
 
 resources:
-- github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator/config/deployments/default?ref=v1.17.1
+- github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator/config/deployments/default?ref=v1.17.2
 
 components:
   - ../../components/cass-operator-image-config
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/components/cass-operator-image-config/image_config.yaml b/config/components/cass-operator-image-config/image_config.yaml
index bba858c86..5b3f97629 100644
--- a/config/components/cass-operator-image-config/image_config.yaml
+++ b/config/components/cass-operator-image-config/image_config.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: ImageConfig
 metadata:
   name: image-config
 images:
-  system-logger: "k8ssandra/system-logger:v1.17.1"
+  system-logger: "k8ssandra/system-logger:v1.17.2"
   config-builder: "datastax/cass-config-builder:1.0.7"
   k8ssandra-client: "k8ssandra/k8ssandra-client:v0.2.0"
   # cassandra:
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 074b34322..c73c9ed3c 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-logr/zapr v1.2.3
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.3.0
 	github.com/gruntwork-io/terratest v0.37.7
-	github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.1
+	github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.2
 	github.com/k8ssandra/reaper-client-go v0.3.1-0.20220114183114-6923e077c4f5
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1
 	github.com/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator/pkg/apis/monitoring v0.52.1
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 55e440527..91fa41c93 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -653,8 +653,8 @@ github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report v0.9.1/go.mod h1:Brl9GWCQeLvo8nXZwPNNblvFj/X
 github.com/jtolds/gls v4.20.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:QJZ7F/aHp+rZTRtaJ1ow/lLfFfVYBRgL+9YlvaHOwJU=
 github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter v1.2.0/go.mod h1:SYymIcj16QtmaHHD7aYtjjsJG7VTCxuUUipMqKk8s4w=
 github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter v1.3.0/go.mod h1:JR6WtHb+2LUe8TCKY3cZOxFyyO8IZAc4RVcycCCAKdM=
-github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.1 h1:3PwvBzP1z4GaY+oqErEp1pO3JBvuDAOys+61kpmdyFo=
-github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.1/go.mod h1:8gYoASfrQYiDmvfMAeYSe31dO1qVe8uIISJeVXGFSiI=
+github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.2 h1:e9cmvgpSW2R3wFd525SjIznp9kuJwkeMpYIwAD+eR+Y=
+github.com/k8ssandra/cass-operator v1.17.2/go.mod h1:8gYoASfrQYiDmvfMAeYSe31dO1qVe8uIISJeVXGFSiI=
 github.com/k8ssandra/reaper-client-go v0.3.1-0.20220114183114-6923e077c4f5 h1:Dq0VdM960G3AbhYwFuaebmsE08IzOYHYhngUfDmWaAc=
 github.com/k8ssandra/reaper-client-go v0.3.1-0.20220114183114-6923e077c4f5/go.mod h1:WsQymIaVT39xbcstZhdqynUS13AGzP2p6U9Hsk1oy5M=
 github.com/kisielk/errcheck v1.1.0/go.mod h1:EZBBE59ingxPouuu3KfxchcWSUPOHkagtvWXihfKN4Q=
diff --git a/pkg/test/testenv.go b/pkg/test/testenv.go
index 2bcabf5e3..ce0dbfb5e 100644
--- a/pkg/test/testenv.go
+++ b/pkg/test/testenv.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	clustersToCreate          = 3
 	clusterProtoName          = "cluster-%d-%s"
-	cassOperatorVersion       = "v1.17.1"
+	cassOperatorVersion       = "v1.17.2"
 	prometheusOperatorVersion = "v0.9.0"
 )
 
diff --git a/test/kuttl/test-servicemonitors/03-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/test-servicemonitors/03-assert.yaml
index 577e92aec..69127421e 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/test-servicemonitors/03-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/test-servicemonitors/03-assert.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ spec:
             - name: DSE_MGMT_EXPLICIT_START
               value: "true"
           name: cassandra
-        - image: k8ssandra/system-logger:v1.17.1
+        - image: k8ssandra/system-logger:v1.17.2
           name: server-system-logger
 status:
   readyReplicas: 1